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Empirical Essays in Institutional Microeconomics
Schwarz, Jiří ; Bauer, Michal (advisor) ; Benáček, Vladimír (referee) ; Bjørnskov, Christian (referee) ; Berggren, Niclas (referee)
The dissertation consists of three empirical papers in institutional microeconomics. The first paper examines the role of institutional quality in international trade, the second paper focuses on unintended consequences of intellectual property rights for social welfare, and the last one addresses the impact of banking on corporate financing and investment. An introductory chapter puts these three papers into perspective. In the first paper I analyze the role of institutions in price dispersion among cities in the European region in the 1996-2009 period. Using a number of institutional quality measures I find that the better the institutions, the lower the predicted dispersion. The result is robust to different specifications of the regression model and is consistent with a hypothesis that arbitrage, as an entrepreneurial activity and the main power behind the law of one price, is influenced by institutional quality. In the second paper I use a large data set of U.S. patents applied for between 1980 and 2007 by 22 large technology companies to study development of strategic patenting over time and across industries. Using two complementary methods I reveal strong evidence against the hypothesis of more strategic patenting after 1995. Contrary to the expectations, aerospace patents appear to be on average...
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Parita kupní síly - teorie a praxe
Bukat, Michał Aleksander ; Žamberský, Pavel (advisor) ; Taušer, Josef (referee)
The thesis explains the theory of purchasing power parity and related concepts. It shows differences in prices and wages all around the globe and gives theoretical explanation of existing disparities. The goal is to find out how prices differ in reality, where costs of living are the highest or the lowest and what makes some products more or less expensive in different countries. In order to answer the questions the thesis deals with, the variety of sources was used, starting from economics textbooks, academic journals, literature reviews, the Economist website, a study of UBS 'Prices and Earnings', International Monetary Fund database and others.
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Real and price convergence of the Czech Republic and the new Member states of the European Union
Nováková, Veronika ; Potužák, Pavel (advisor) ; Slaný, Martin (referee)
This Thesis deals with the convergence of European states and identifies the influence of the European union enlargement in 2014 on the course of convergence. Both real and price convergences are analyzed by using beta convergence and sigma convergence concepts. The Balassa Samuelson effect is tested as well. The Balassa Samuelson effect explains the existence of price convergence and also indicates the relationship between real and price variables. The existence of real and price convergence was verified for the whole period from 1995 to 2013. During 2004 the integration of European states was strengthened, which was significant for real convergence because the speed of convergence was positively influenced. As for the price convergence, the year 2004 was insignificant as the break point. Despite a similar course of both convergences, price convergence was more affected by the crisis in 2008. The presence of Balassa Samuelson effect was confirmed. Despite the complications during intensity measurement, caused by problematic dividing into tradable and non tradable sectors, corresponding values are realistic.
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Why do NIKE shoes cost twice as much in Prague than in the USA?
Nečasová, Romana ; Hudík, Marek (advisor) ; Šťastný, Daniel (referee)
I study retail prices of sport goods for a particular multinational producer across European countries and in the USA to examine behaviour of the law of one price. Although average prices across all goods in the sample differ only slightly across most of the countries, I find significant price differences for individual goods for almost each country pair, including a group of the states that are generally considered as relatively integrated. The conducted analysis has not confirmed that these differences are caused primarily by various distribution costs. The computed relative prices across products vary significantly once compared internationally even within a group of similar goods of which distribution costs should be the same. The price variation, which prevails even when costs are excluded, points to the existence of strategic pricing and lagging arbitrage.
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